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“We have to try to lead as normal a life as possible in all areas of our life,” Kurz emphasized on Tuesday during his first bilateral visit abroad since the crown crisis in Ljubljana. “Winter tourism and skiing will be possible,” he announced.
When asked if the ski areas should not be closed immediately so that schools can remain open for a few more days in the fall, the chancellor said: “I would not like to confront schools and companies.” The school works “differently” this year, but it is “important that it happens.” The procedure introduced in schools is “a burden for many children and parents.” But it has the “objective that the schools remain open and that a new closure does not have to take place.”
With a view to the ski season, the Chancellor pointed out that tourism is an important economic factor in Austria and that it is even more important in some federal states. “It’s about a lot of jobs.” At the same time, he stressed that “everything will be done”, that skiing will be “safe as possible” this year. Consequently, après-ski “will not exist” this year. The chancellor did not give details. In this sense, he referred to the Minister of Tourism, Elisabeth Köstinger (ÖVP) and the Minister of Health, Rudi Anschober (Greens), who would present a concept.
At the joint press conference, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jan? A, expressed his confidence with Kurz that a new blockade can be avoided. After all, in the last six months “what is dangerous and what is less dangerous” has become clearer. Jan ?? a reported that his country refrained from opening nightclubs even after the pandemic ended in May.
When asked about his testimony at a meeting with Slovenian diplomats last week that a new blockade could not be allowed, Jan ?? a referred to discussions with their EU counterparts in this regard. They are also of the opinion that a stronger corona wave should also be controlled without a complete lockdown, “because the price is simply too high.” “The key question is what we have learned as a society from the lesson that spring.”
Kurz and Jan ?? a emphasized coherence in the crisis of the crown
On his first bilateral trip abroad after the crown crisis, Chancellor Kurz (ÖVP) was received by his Slovenian counterpart Janez Jan ?? a in Ljubljana. He demonstratively welcomed his guest with a handshake and thereby defied the strict Crown rules of conduct in the country.
Slovak Prime Minister Janez Jan? A greeted Sebastian Kurz with a handshake.
Image: (APA)
The two politicians also removed their masks in the photo session for the assembled press. At the joint press conference after the meeting, Kurz also spoke about the handshake. “You shake hands, it is disinfected beforehand,” he said, referring to Slovenian rules. As the Federal Chancellery also said, all members of the Austrian delegation were tested for the corona virus prior to the visit.
In front of the press, Kurz and Jan ?? a also emphasized their political harmony and the importance of neighborhood relations, especially in the crisis of the crown. “We have a lot of things that connect us and where we come together,” Kurz said. In response to a question from a Slovenian journalist, Jan ?? a emphasized that the two countries have the same position on the issue of migration. One can only talk about the distribution of refugees within the EU once the issue of protecting the external borders is resolved, he said.
Jan ?? A said that during the crown crisis, Austria was “one of the few states that we believed were well prepared for the epidemic and we still believe so today.” Ljubljana and Vienna have “worked closely together” since their government took office (amid the crown crisis in mid-March), even and especially “in the first few weeks, in the worst weeks.”
- Video: Press conference of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz with Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jan ?? to:
On a climbing tour
Kurz and Jan ?? a had met early in the morning because they still had a mountain tour on their schedule, which should start at 9:30 a.m. As it became known at the press conference, they wanted to do a climbing tour on the north face of Triglav . This is not only the highest peak in the country (2,864 meters above the Adriatic Sea), but it has great symbolic significance for Slovenians and is also the dominant motif in the country’s national coat of arms.
Kurz jokingly responded to a journalist’s question that he was “not worried” about the prime minister on the climbing tour. He could then report in the evening if he himself would be there, but “hope” that’s the case, the 35-year-old said. Jan? A, 61, is, like many Slovenians, a keen mountaineer and has been to Triglav many times.
Before embarking on the tour of the mountain, the Chancellor paid his respects to President Borut Pahor. On October 10, he is expected to be invited to the centenary celebrations of the Carinthian referendum in Klagenfurt. With Pahor, a representative from Slovenia participates for the first time in the annual celebration, which commemorates the vote of the then majority of Slovenian-speaking South Carinthia for affiliation to the Republic of Austria.
Unofficially, the chancellor had already been in Slovenia in mid-July, from where Jan? A took him to the EU summit on a private jet. Kurz’s last two-way trip abroad before the crown crisis took him to London on February 25. While meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson there, the first two Austrian crown cases were confirmed in Innsbruck.
